NSI Ventures Targets $125 Million Second Fund for Consumer Apps

NSI Ventures, an early backer of Indonesian ride-hailing giant Go-Jek, is targeting a $125 million second fund to continue investing in consumer apps as well as startups in health care, financial services and education.

The NSI Ventures II fund raised $60 million at first close, with a commitment for a further $15 million from existing investors, according to co-founder and partner Shane Chesson. The Singapore-based firm counts Temasek Holdings Pte among its existing investors and plans to close the fund in the first half of 2018.

The new fund is capitalizing on an influx of money into the region’s venture firms as investors seek opportunities beyond the U.S. and China, the primary focus for Asia deals in recent years. Southeast Asia is the world’s fastest growing internet region, where the number of web users is expected to reach 480 million by 2020, according to a 2016 report by Google and Temasek.

NSI Ventures, which focuses on series A and B financing, is part of Northstar Group, a Southeast Asian private-equity firm with more than $2 billion of assets under management.

Separately, NSI said it joined Aviva Ventures in funding $5 million to Biofourmis, a Singapore-based health tech startup that helps doctors and nurses monitor their patients’ health remotely. NSI’s first fund has backed 15 companies, including Go-Jek; online health insurance service CXA Group and financial technology firm FinAccel.